Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to go on a spring vacation and remain on a diet and exercise regime of building muscle while losing a pound or two a week.
I accepted the challenge, and a week in, I鈥檝e continued to eat healthy food and my weight is at least stable 鈥� more than I can say for my mind. After all, it is a family vacation.
Just doors down from the condominium where I am staying is a small gym called Beach Bods.
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At this storefront gym, for $25 for a week you can get 24/7 access to a variety of equipment. When signing up, I thought day-night access was exactly what I needed to guarantee a daily workout.
Instead, what I needed was an action plan 鈥� which is exactly what Mr. January (a.k.a. Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence trainer Chris Hinton) had advised. He suggested I pick a time of day to work out and stick to it 鈥� likely a morning workout that wouldn鈥檛 interfere with other vacation plans.
It was unfortunately advice that I neglected to put into action. Beach Bods and 24-hour access is聽the dream you buy into and Beached Whale Bods is the reality if there鈥檚 no action plan. Thus, a majority of my great intentions to hit the treadmill and weights remained just that, great intentions.
My resolve with eating right, however, has been much stronger. Having access to a fridge and being able to buy and cook healthy food and prepare healthy snacks has helped immensely.
Like many others taking part聽in the sa国际传媒 Health聽Challenge, I have also learned to love good food without excess, making eating well almost easy.
The idea that all rewards, enjoyment and relaxation involve mounds of rich foods seems to have vanished. Easy snacks of fruit and carrots and hummus and yogurt have kept me satiated when hungry and on the road.
Even the one bottle of wine that was meant to complement a聽nice dinner has remained corked, as there was never a聽night that justified the empty calories. I know, I can hear my old self slapping my face for writing that. But it鈥檚 true.
My long-term goal is to sow and reap the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, whether on a running high on vacation or stalled at one of life鈥檚 low destination points.
I might be in dark-chocolate withdrawal and my body simply in shock, or I have regained what I thought over the last few years was mission impossible 鈥� a聽happy balance of nutrition and聽exercise and a deep appreciation of a body that has given me so much, not least a daughter.
